


Angel Zone OCT- Prince of the stars

by Casimir



Category: Angel Zone OCT, Original Character Tournament, Original Work
Genre: Aliens, Android, Fighting Tournament, Gen, Illustrated, Magical Boy, Trapped in another world, anthro character, eldritch horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2018-10-19 02:22:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10630164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Casimir/pseuds/Casimir
Summary: A mysterious star falls, a prince with nothing to lose takes it's challenge, a doctor holds fate at stake and a new battle is fought.





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Written and drawn for Angelzoneoct.deviantart.com  
> I changed my entry type partway through the audition because the nargles stole my tablet pen and realized it would be much cooler to do a mix of art and writing, so here we are.

Casimir had been running for too long.

His feet ached, his lungs burned. It had been weeks since the fall of... He didn't want to think about it. But still, he ran. He had left what few allies he had behind him. The nightmares and memories burnt at the back of his mind; he wasn't worth their hospitality. He wasn't worth their protection. All he did was bother them, waking up with a scream dying in his throat in the middle of the night.  
The night sky glittered above him. A hundred different worlds and their stars taunted him with their distance. It was a nice enough night, Casimir mused, to be a useless prince on the run. His ringed, blue eyes scanned the horizon. He was alone, but alive to regret his choices in life.

Suddenly, snapping Casimir out of his depressed reverie, streaks of fire burst across the sky. The objects were burning, spreading white hot light through the night. He could feel the heat coming from them already as they punched through the atmosphere. Magic twisted through Casimir’s body, spiralling brilliant yellows across him, draping magically enhanced fabrics across his body where it touched. The clothes were vestiges of his people, gifts handed down by the Gods to only the strongest of them. Cas adjusted his gauntlets as a falling star shot through the sky above his head. If these were messages from his people’s Gods, then he would face them head on.

The star began to fall faster. As Casimir chased it, he hoped desperately that it would fall before the landmass that he was on became little more than a long drop to the ends of the world. His planet was made of huge platforms, some floating and some not. The people had adapted, generations developing the magical skills to grow wings or arms as the situation called for it.

Finally the star reached the horizon. Thank the Gods! He thought, watching the subsequent explosion of earth and rubble. His magic protected him from the heat of the star and he further thanked the skies that he had chosen to change forms. He jogged towards the disaster zone, waving the clouds of brown dust that had been stirred up. There were patches of grass smouldering to themselves that Cas took a moment to stamp out. It wouldn’t do to be caught in the middle of a blaze.

Casimir could feel the waves of blistering heat coming off of the strange, blue object. It began to flicker, light starting to pulse from the center of it, then projected an image outwards. It took the shape of a fuzzy creature. The prince stared at it in confusion, watching the edges of the projection waver for a moment before becoming steady. It had long, purple hair and choppy bangs, snowy white wings that seemed to tremble with restraint, and weirdly pink coloured flesh with no fur.

“I am Doctor Ametsuchi,” it said. “The creator of magic, and researcher of the universe.”

Immediately, Casimir snarled. “Creator of magic? What bullshit! Magic is sacred, you can’t just-”

But the image carried on talking, ignoring Casimir’s angry protests.

“You have been deemed worthy of a special gift: to choose your own destiny.”

Casimir’s face fell. The anger that boiled inside him at the blasphemous image quieted to a slow simmer. 

Fate, huh? He thought, waiting until the projection finished it’s pre-recorded script about touching the star and a dangerous trial. He would do anything to change his destiny, to fix those stupid blunders he made, no matter how dangerous it would be. He was trained by the greatest priests the Selefim had! He could fight!

His hand reached out. If he spent any longer mulling it over, he would think himself into a spiral of depression and then nothing would be done about this strange magic. Oh he missed his friends, the few that he had. The last real words he’d ever spoken to Adayemi, who had been his closest conspirator through thick and thin, had been spoken in anger and haste.

“I don’t need you!”

“I’ve never needed you!”

What a pitiful mistake.

As Casimir touched the rock- which was weirdly cooled after it’s explosive entrance- he felt the sharp pull and tug of his self being moved from one location to another. It tasted of bitter metal and ash, not like the gentle warmth of his people’s teleportation skills. This was wrong.

\---

“They’ve brought me a strange one this time…six wings...I wonder if I can dissect you...just a little…”

Whoever’s voice it was had to stop talking, right that second. Casimir stirred from his unpleasant journey. The warp had been rough on his body and somehow had forced him out of his battle form which, as he pushed himself to sitting up despite the the awful pounding in his head, made him feel vulnerable. He snarled again and peeled his eyes open. His surroundings were oozy and blurry to his tired eyes; around him he could see long cords and wires dangling from the dilapidated ceiling above, rusted sheets of metal lay in discarded heaps and a leaky pipe dripped from somewhere nearby. The place stank of death.

“Shut up. I feel like I’m going to be sick.”

Yet another strange creature sat next to Casimir. This one had brown hair, tied up into a ponytail and a similar outfit to the doctor before with a long white coat. No wings though, Casimir noted bleakly. Maybe they were not the same species after all.

“Oh good, you’re awake!” The creature grabbed Casimir by the wing, stretching it out to get a good look at the eyes that blinked at him curiously. “Perhaps you can shed some light on a problem of mine!”

Casimir pulled his wing from the grasping fingers. “What do you want? And also, what are you?”

“My name is Jacob!” It -he? It seemed to be male at least- laughed. “Are those eyes following me?”

“Yes, they are.” It seemed a little stupid of a question. Cas could see through them, why wouldn’t they be following the odd creature that was getting it’s grubby fingers into Casimir’s feathers. “Tell me about this ‘great trial’.”

“Oh yes of course! The tournament. Ametsuchi’s tournament. Well you see it’s a very difficult challenge, the odds are against you! You’re more likely to die against one of our other competitors but there’s also the environment to think about-”

Casimir flapped a wing at the rambling creature, getting the tips of his feathers into Jacob’s face and effectively hushing him. “I don’t care about that.” He let out a short breath, then reached inside of himself for the brightly bubbling magic that sat in the core of his being. It twisted through his wings until it reached the very tip of his feathers and where it touched, it pulled away his form and left another behind. 

“Just tell me what I have to do!”


	2. Regret

Slender fingers tapped a rhythm on the desk, a long forgotten melody from a time passed- or perhaps one that never happened, known only to creatures with knowledge of the alternate. Ametsuchi watched the screens in front of her intently. Her surveillance room was small but well kept, the equipment for her experiments stored neatly in their places until they were needed. The largest wall held a series of screens that would flicker gently as they passed to the next important moment of her specimen's fates. Each decision they made changed the way their lives would play out and for a brief moment in between each flicker she could see the branching paths that 'fate' would make. Ametsuchi reached out to touch the one closest to her as it began to shift. A creature of chaos was displayed on the screen. Their long purple coat was buffeted in the harsh winds of the top of a moving train. 

Ametsuchi moved away from her screens; though she longed to stay behind and rewatch the moments that brought her precious subjects to her again and again. It was fascinating to see the way they shaped their own destinies, pulling against even the strongest strings of fate, even if it would lead them to their doom. She brushed her long, purple hair behind her ear absentmindedly as she walked the short way to the other side of the room. Sunk into the wall were a series of huge chambers filled with a viscous liquid that gave off an eerie blue light. She was rather fond of the colour and regarded the final phase of her experiment with a soft smile. A growl brought her attention back to the orb that floated constantly near her and Ametsuchi reached out again. She placed her hand against it, expecting the lunge that her prisoner made for her as if he could shatter the magical container with the sheer force of his anger and aggression. He couldn't, of course, Ametsuchi had made sure of that.

“Hush, my little agent of fate.” She patted the space where Percy's head would be, if it wasn't in the midst of twisting grotesquely. His bones had begun to stretch and warp, ripping pale flesh open and leaving sore and unnatural wounds that couldn't heal behind. “It's not long now.”

His transformation was not nearly complete and the good doctor needed him ready for her subject's upcoming challenge. _Perhaps another day or so_ , she mused, watching Percy slam what was once a human face against the containment wall. His skin had begun to slough off in patches where the elongated deer features had ruptured the muscles there. There was still too much human though, hidden in the way his legs didn't quite bend right and the fingers of his stretched hands held blunted nails instead of his flesh rending claws. _Not long now at all._ Percy's chest burst open as she watched. He howled in pain, clawing at the weeping wound where his ribcage could be seen.

Ametsuchi blew him a mocking kiss, then walked back to her screens. She entered Percy's new data into a log, then set up a reminder to check on him soon. His release into the unsuspecting candidates would be glorious. Finished with her brief chore, the doctor flicked through the archives of her experiments. The lives of her subjects played out before her, so easily manipulated with soft words spoken at the right time or an unexpected death to tip the hands of fate. The tips of her snowy white wings trembled with anticipation. Destiny, fate, fortune, karma, they would be her playthings! No longer would she be relegated to parlour tricks, she would be able to see the very strings that lead her path. Ignoring another of Percy's blood-curdling screams, she let the magic that connected her to her welcoming party flare out in a bright burst. After a moment their minds tuned in to hers.

“I trust that everyone has collected their chosen ones.” She said, watching the screens in front of her tune in to the ragtag collection.

“You got it boss!” Ko-reko bounced on one of them, cartwheeling across a thin patch of ice in her Ice Horizon zone. He finally sprung from it when the ice began to crack dangerously, scything through the air with a twist to his body. He landed neatly, but instantly sunk into a deep patch of snow.

On another screen, the fox thief girl crouched in the boughs of a towering tree. Kit grinned and saluted, knowing Ametsuchi watched her just as intently as Kit watched a tall and horned man cram chocolate cookies into his face.

“We're all set here!” She whispered.

Andy, the mechanic, muttered his affirmative. He had buried himself in his work again and only acknowledged Ametsuchi's summons as he knew it would begin to burn if she noticed him intentionally not paying attention to her. His deft fingers tightened the final panel to the last of her requested test tubes. Soon he would flood it with the same liquid that gently lit the room behind her.

Elsewhere, Jacob laughed softly. A single, forgotten feather twisted in his fingers. A small bead of blood rested on the end of it's quill where it had undoubtedly been plucked unceremoniously. “I have what I wanted, ready when you are.” He placed the feather into a vial, then tucked it away.

Instead of calling in, Kyuu's form shivered into place behind her. He cast a baleful look to the suffering creature trapped in her bubble, then hummed softly. “Are you certain this is wise?” 

“Which part are you criticising this time?” One of Ametsuchi's delicate eyebrows rose. She knew that Kyuu had no trouble reading her expression, even if they weren't facing each other.

“All of it, perhaps.” He muttered. “I know you could care less about us, but you should take heed to my visions of the future.”

“How many unpleasant deaths do you see befall me?”

Kyuu stepped up to her side and moved the largest screen on the wall's focus to a single being- one that cowered from an attacker, his arms raised in pitiful defence while his magic spluttered lifelessly down his arms.

“You're asking the wrong question.”

She thought for a moment. “How many do I succeed in?”

“Just the one.”

He could hear Pox call his affirmative across their group's mental link and bowed deeply to Ametsuchi. It was both mocking and respectful. Then, his form shivered again and he was gone.

Left mostly alone to her own devices now, the doctor watched the screen that Kyuu had chosen. On it, the boy's trusted bodyguards defended him from his assailant. The burning castle walls around him began to crumble and he flinched away from a chunk of rubble that fell. The one with red stripes fell first, the attacker's sword piercing even his magical armour.

“RUN!” Shouted the remaining defender, turning briefly to the boy cowering on the floor behind him.

And so he did. Ametsuchi knew this story. Every contestant's choices had been memorized by her. The ones that they were loath to make, the ones that lead them to happiness, the ones that they made out of cowardice.

The prince abandons his people.


	3. Antecedent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Casimir meets Gordon and Juna, competitors in the Angel Zone tournament, but Juna is keeping secrets from her mentor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters featured are:
> 
> Jacob, from EnfieldKit  
> Juna Gold and Gordon Gilgamesh, from AmadeusGuy

__

_Antecedent:_  
a : a preceding event, condition, or cause  
b : antecedents plural : the significant events, conditions, and traits of one's earlier life

\---  
Before he departed, Jacob had left Casimir with a few last pieces of wisdom.

“We dubbed this place the Shrapnel Heart Zone. It’s an abandoned facility that we’ve...appropriated for part of our tournament! Feel free to wreck the place. No one’s going to be missing it!”

It had been little wonder that Casimir could smell rot all through the corridors of the God’s forsaken building, and forsaken it was. Huge, rat like creatures scurried past him out of fear. There was definitely some sort of tree bursting through the metal plating that had once been a floor- that one he climbed instead of taking the long route around, let no one say that he was not a creature of opportunity. Although he had no real idea of where he was going, Casimir still walked. He had been on the move for so long it was hard for him to comprehend that he was going to be stuck in one place for longer than a few days. Although Jacob had mentioned that there were other Zones that he could travel to so long as he had his star, there was a good chance- knowing his luck- that he would find the one Zone that everyone else had also travelled to, or someone far more powerful than he.

Elsewhere, deep in the heart of the dilapidated facility, two alien beings had also found themselves exploring the wasted corridors.

“Juna! Look at this. The local fauna is either irradiated and mutating or growing to fit it’s environment over the generations!”

The tall, mechanical one with an ever grinning face turned to his compatriot. He was holding a giant rat in one of his glowing hands and chuckling to himself as it tried to maul his fingers. His companion, Juna, turned her head to watch the struggling rodent with an oddly strained expression on her face. 

“It's definitely large Gordon.”

Juna’s floating head twisted and turned back and forth, scanning their surroundings, before she seemed to deem it safe. 

“We should carry on, there might be relics from the last civilization deeper inside." 

“You're quite right!" Gordon bounded ahead, quickly reaching a long set of descending stairs. “Wouldn't it be fascinating to unearth such ancient technologies! Perhaps the secrets to life itself!" 

Juna fixed him with a blank stare. Her long legs easily carried her past the excitable robot man, then down into the darker depths of the facility. 

“I do hope there is somewhere with natural light. The abundant plant life suggests a source of it somewhere close." Gordon mused to himself idly as they walked together and although Juna didn't say anything, she was searching for it too. If they were to fight here, then she would need to find somewhere to recharge. 

Casimir on the other hand had secluded himself away from the strange rodents and large bugs, deep in a hidden maintenance shaft. The smell of rot was starting to get to him. He pressed the heel of his hand against his eyes and tried not to think about it, instead meditating on his plan for dealing with the competition. As much as he loathed the idea, there was always a chance that any fight would escalate. The thought of it had his heart racing again, breath catching in his throat. 

Stop this! He pleaded with himself. You're stronger than this! 

His stuttered breathing began to slow and Casimir was finally able to take a deeper breath.

Hush would have known what to do. He thought of his last real friend, fondly daydreaming of how the Malakim had taught Casimir his breathing exercises after a moment of panic had had the prince lash out wildly at a crowd of pushy onlookers. 

Actually. “If Hush was here, what would he do…?” 

Casimir had met Hush not too long ago but the two had forged a fast friendship. In fact, he had rescued Casimir from dying an early and painful death. His journey had taken him far from the floating land that was his home and deep into the burning heat of the desert.

The outside, Cas realized quickly. It would be the ideal place to scout out his opponents, escape routes and places to hide. It probably wouldn't smell as bad either. He turned around in his tunnel and climbed out warily. 

Up, 

Up,

Up, 

He travelled, trying to stick to the walls and stay hidden- out of sight of the possible leering eyes of his opponents. The manufactory was enormous, with more rooms and passages than Cas cared to count. Some rooms were barred by the growth of plant life while some held the remains of whatever poor souls once worked their lives away. These rooms he tried to avoid as best he could. They were the source of the ever-present rot that stung his nose. 

Keeping his ears open and many eyes peeled for potential enemies, Casimir finally reached the third level of the building where sunlight streamed through a huge glass window. He dashed to it with a small smile on his face. The entire Zone was laid out before him, towering pillars that once filtered black smog rose high around him and ever winding passages sloped towards the ground. Everything was stained a sooty, murky black except for the sky- which Cas could only see the slightest part of, due to the facility seeming to be sunk into a chasm around them- which was a brilliant and vibrant orange with pale fluffy clouds drifting by. It was a breath of fresh air in a desolate place.

Casimir pressed his face against the chilled glass, watching his breath fog the clear pane, until he felt his heart slow down from the rapid thump thump of panic. He was still in an unsettling, awful place- that much hadn’t changed- but a break from the dim light of the lower levels did a lot to raise his spirits. 

The sudden crash and scrape of metal on metal, however, sent the Selefim scrambling to climb the walls with his claws until he’d reached the safety of the rafters above.

“Juna! Juna! Light! Real, actual light!”

Gordon came stumbling through one of the doorways opposite where Casimir had entered. He was covered in a mix of leafy vines and copper wiring and bent pipes. The android tore some of the foliage that tangled around his body away and tossed it aside, before tripping his way over to the window.

“She’s going to be so pleased!”

Balanced precariously where he was, Casimir slowly attempted to make a break for an exit by clambering across a particularly wide beam within his reach. His going was difficult, the smallest movement creaking the rusted rafter ominously. Below him the whirring, chattering man twisted to stare around the room. Cas’ breath caught in his throat. On his wrists, his eyes could only see the long stretch of brown metal aching under his weight. On his hips, the eyes on his wings could see the steep drop to the floor and the robot that Cas was desperately avoiding. Never would he have pictured himself in this situation. He was supposed to have been a prince, not this sad creature escaping across a metal beam like a felon.

Adayemi would have laughed at him.

_“Come on, Cas! It’s easy.”_

_Casimir could remember the feeling of soft sand between his toes, getting into the fur on his knees, rubbing against the palms of his hands, getting underneath his claws. He can remember the salty taste of the air, where it stuck to his lips and tongue. The smell of life from the sea._

_The sandcastle crumbled under his hands again._

_“No it isn't! Tell me how to fix it!”_

_He dragged together the sand again, scraping it through his fingers and piled it high. Together the two boys worked to shape the fledgling castle. But, once again, Casimir’s side began to sag under it's own weight._

_“I think it doesn't have enough water.”_

_The little prince- as this was many years in the past- grabbed his brightly coloured, blue metal bucket and scrambled off to the sea edge._

_Although his world was made up of floating platforms, many were continents in their own right. Their edges disappeared far past the distance the eye could see with terrain that varied wildly from platform to platform. The two boys were on one that seemed to be the end of many rivers. Near them, a waterfall tumbled over the edge of one platform and rushed to meet the sea beneath it. Some distance away was their entourage; Casimir’s father, who lounged on a deck chair, and his loyal guardians._

_A quick scoop of the bucket later and Cas returned to Adayemi’s side. The weight of the bucket, filled with water, made Casimir struggle to hold it and stand upright. He waddled a little._

_“What's that weird look on your face?” Casimir asked accusingly as he dropped the bucket at his friend's feet._

_His friend, who was trying very hard not to laugh._

_“DAAAAAD! Adayemi’s being mean again!”_

Oh did he miss his few friends.

Casimir however, had managed to finally reach the edge of the beam. He stretched out a leg, hooking a nearby vine with his toes and, dragging it closer, managed to scale it down to the floor. The air lifted him gently as he willed it, silencing his descent but-

“Aha! There you are!”

The metal creature span it's ghastly floating head around to pin him with it's fixed grin. Casimir prepared to bolt. On the back of his head was the faintly glowing, green star of Doctor Ametsuchi.

“I don't suppose you happen to be a native here?” He asked, curiously. His body span to face the same direction as his head. “I seem to have lost my companion. Very tall, very yellow lady. Goes by Juna. My name is Gordon!”

“No...I. I'm Casimir. I was brought here.”

“A fellow explorer! We are rivals in search of treasure then!” 

Casimir’s brain ground to a halt. _Treasure? What is he on about?_ “I'm not really...a treasure hunter type?”

Gordon seemed to deflate a little. He whirred quietly, lowering his arms and strangely detached fingers. They cast a sickly green light on the metal of his body. “Why are you here then?”

“I'm trying to save someone. I'm not... just going to let them die.”

Gordon was very quickly in Casimir’s personal space. He grabbed Casimir’s hand in his own and for all his grinning countenance, he seemed quite suddenly very serious. “An admirable task.” He said.

In a split second, Casimir found himself being led from the beautifully lit room and once again down into the depths of the facility. Once or twice he had to stop and recover his breath, as Gordon seemed to have no end of stamina. His metal mask would twist, this way and that, as he called for his lost friend.

Eventually, some levels down, an answering call echoed down the desolate halls. Casimir worried his lip. Gordon trusted this other competitor, so they couldn't be all that bad.

“Juna!” Gordon called, letting go of Cas’ hand to race down the corridor they stood in. “You'll never believe what I found!”

The alien creature that stood before Casimir and Gordon was huge. Taller than the both of them but willowy. Thin, reflective blades were unsheathed from the gauntlets on her hands and her skin was yellow, like pale flowers. She was shouting angrily down at Gordon as Cas approached. Something about running off without her. But, as Casimir walked closer, her gaze drifted upwards and her expression changed.

Juna pushed herself in front of Gordon, getting in between him and Casimir. “Stay back, Gordon,” she said, “he’s a competitor.”

“He already told me he’s not interested in finding any treasure-”

“It’s not about treasure, Gordon!”

She spared a glance back to her friend before falling into a fighting stance. Casimir swallowed around the thick lump in his throat. He knew he’d have to fight eventually but did it really have to be now?

“Give me your stars.” He fixed Juna with a level glare.

Juna hissed at him. That was all the warning he had before she charged, her blades whistled through the air towards him. She span halfway through her attack, driving Casimir away from both herself and Gordon. Her long blades skimmed the fur on his chest as he leapt backwards. Gordon hadn’t made a move yet but Juna was already attacking again, driving Casimir back again and again with vicious slashes. The wind had begun to bluster around him, ruffling his hair and feathers, so he egged it on. Casimir planted his feet on the floor and roared, directing the gale at his aggressor.

“I don’t know why we’re fighting but I guess I’ll join in!” Gordon’s static eyes glinted dangerously. He reached behind him and as he drew his arm away, followed the largest blade that Casimir had ever had the displeasure of seeing in person.

Gordon didn’t seem phased by the fierce winds that kept Juna pinned. His sword continued it’s swing until the momentum embedded it into the steel beneath them. Blood pounded in between Casimir’s ears. There was a ringing noise coming from somewhere in the distance. His legs felt rooted to the spot.

“What’s wrong, boy?” Gordon asked, lifting the sword from it’s slice in the ground. The wind stuttered to a halt, freeing the pale yellow woman.

Casimir bolted.

He could hear Gordon’s laughter echoing down the corridors as he shot away, as fast as his long legs could carry him away. Their clanking feet on the metal pathways behind him never fell away though, the two were hot on his fleeing heels, and all Casimir could think of was that giant sword rending a hole in his chest and blood, blood, blood and never seeing Adayemi’s smiling face or Noelani’s stern glower or- 

In front of him was a ruined room, the center of it seemed to be blasted open. The metal peeled upwards towards the sky and when Cas glanced upwards, the hole carried on all the way to the soft light of the sky. Behind him, Juna and Gordon had begun to catch up.

Desperately Casimir bit a slice into his thumb. He pressed the weeping wound onto the floor and sketched quickly, circles and spirals and a twist to his wrist in a final flourish. His pursuers rounded the corner just as he put the final line to it and dashed backwards. The surge of magic that had been building inside burst outwards. Cas slammed his hands onto the floor to direct it, watching the sparks of _intent_ fly across the ground. Gordon and Juna were caught in the wave, the wishes that would never be granted erupted outwards in an angry snarl of metal and sharp edges. They warped the entryway under vines of wire and blossoms of steel until Casimir could only see the light of Gordon’s fingers and Juna’s quiet yellow glow.

His respite would be brief and he knew it. Already Gordon was working on the blockage. The transformation started at his toes, twisting upwards in tiny balls of light that faded into the darkness of the shattered building.

By the time Gordon had cut a hole large enough for them to step through without any injury, Casimir had chosen his element.

He swallowed the thick lump that had built in his throat and clenched his gauntleted fists a few times to quell the shaking in his fingers.

“Give me your stars.” He warned them again.

This time Gordon leapt first, but his powerful swing was blocked by an uppercut and Casimir’s magically imbued gauntlets. The wind formed an armour barrier around them and as Juna attacked he lashed out with his other arm. Instead of a soft breeze or pinning gale he sent sharp edged blades towards her. Quickly he blocked another swing from Gordon, one of the blades of wind caught Juna along a ridge on her head and left a cut that glowed painfully bright. Cas’ swipes were like claws through the air but Juna was deft and swift and her partner was doing a very good job of keeping Casimir on his toes also. They drove him back towards the pit in the floor of the room. With his back to a certain death and his aggressors on either side, which would make for a swift and bloody end if he allowed them, Casimir took a third option. When Gordon swung his huge blade again Casimir leapt upwards instead of blocking. His feet landed daintily on the flat edge of the sword then he sprung high above them with a powerful push that forced Gordon to his metallic knees.

As he fell, the wind whipped around Casimir like a shield. It slowed Juna’s blade enough for him to dodge the worst of it but the attacks left thin scores into the flesh of his arms. Unlike Juna, Casimir bled red and Gordon didn't bleed at all. He thrusted his hands outwards, aiming for their chests as both Juna and Gordon had strangely floating heads, a powerful gust of wind pushing his opponents backwards. Juna’s heel slipped against the precarious edge of the hole in the floor. Instead of worrying about it, she went on the offensive again. She drove Casimir backwards with arcing slashes of her arm blades but as he danced away from her, Juna stole a glance at Gordon.

The blow from Casimir’s attack had struck him hard. There was a dent in a top corner of his chest as if a blunt object had been taken to it. Although the damage was minor, compared to the multitude of cuts that littered the other combatant’s skin at least, he seemed to have taken it hard. He stayed on the floor, resting on one knee, hard light fingers touching the damage to his armour. Juna screeched a loud and ugly sound. She flung herself towards Casimir with no regards to the danger she placed on herself and in retaliation he threw his whole body into a powerful punch. His fist struck her in mid air, forcing the wind out of her as she was thrown bodily by the impact.

Gordon snapped out of his wounded stupor just in time to see Juna falling, unconscious, towards the great chasm of the floor; and Casimir throwing himself down after her.

The wind that whistled in his ears was not a friendly one this time. Although Casimir started the jump with gauntlets over his fists, his magic was quickly beginning to fade and he found himself praying desperately to any of his Gods -or if even any of the girl’s were listening, then those too- that he would have just another minute more!

Casimir’s fingers found purchase on the strange, metal armour she wore and he drew the unconscious alien to him as the floor and certain death raced to meet them.

The wind balled underneath him.

It ripped feathers from the wings that flared from his hips and temples, magic failing him so so quickly.

Cas squeezed his eyes shut, Juna cradled in his arms. 

But, the grisly death he was expecting never came. 

Just enough wind to keep him aloft spiralled underneath him and underneath that was a net that glowed a sickly green light. Casimir glanced upwards, letting go of the spell that pulled at the very air around them and dropped both himself and Juna into the safety net, and he could see Gordon reaching out with both arms into the pit. For the first time, Cas was glad to see his wickedly grinning face.

The net lowered them safely the rest of the way to the floor and disappeared at the same time as Gordon, who must have been rushing to meet them. Casimir set Juna gently down and collapsed to the floor in relief. His breath came in harsh pants and he wanted nothing more than to curl up in a soft, downy bed and never move again. He’d dictate his country from the safety of his blankets.

Eventually, Gordon found his way down safely to where Casimir and Juna lay. He checked on his partner first, assessing the damage to her face where Casimir’s fist had connected quite brutally and the healing cuts his blades of wind had made. Then, he pointed his giant sword to the man lying on the floor.

“Explain why Juna said this wasn’t about treasure.”

“It’s a tournament.” Casimir said. “The winner gets to decide their own fate. Mine is…”

The prince stood, or rather forced himself to his feet as the aches of using so much magic on top of his acrobatics and falling to his death had finally set in, and strode to the very end of Gordon’s blade. He reached out and held the blunt edge, but pressed the tip to his breast.

“You can try and kill me, but I’ll fight you again. I refuse to lay back and let my own stupid mistake be the undoing of my people. They’re dead because of me- not all of them yet but soon I imagine- and I am going to win this, and I am going to save them.”

He couldn’t stop the thin beads of tears track down his furry cheeks, but he held his eye contact with Gordon unwaveringly.

“I see. And these stars have something to do with it?”

“You have one on the back of your head. I have to collect them from my opponents, either willingly given or...otherwise.”

“Well.” Gordon moved to where Juna lay and turned her onto her side, where the two could see the yellow star on her faintly glowing back. “I don’t think she’s willing but this is going to be your best chance- don’t you?”

Relief blossomed through Casimir’s chest and his tears flowed even freer than before. “Thank you!” He gasped and jogged over to Juna’s prone form.

The star disappeared as he touched it. Thin streaks of light spiralled through the air and into the matching blue star on Casimir’s cheek. Juna seemed none the worse for wear after it was taken and Gordon span where he stood, offering the star on the back of his head to Casimir.

“Perhaps we can travel with you! I would love to see more of this tournament first hand.”

“I would like that.”

Then, Casimir reached out and touched Gordon’s star. The light connected them- this time green- and Gordon pitched forwards and crumpled to the floor in a heap of metal arms and legs.

His mask was blank.

Casimir’s legs fell out from underneath him.

 _How do you check if a robot is still alive?!_ He thought, panickedly rolling Gordon over to face him. Does he have a pulse?!

He shook the robot, lightly at first and then harder as he still didn’t wake. Had he actually killed him?

Someone’s manic, high pitched laugh echoed somewhere from behind them as Casimir panicked to himself. Something was walking closer, something heavy and metal and accompanied by whatever was giggling to themselves. A huge hand reached down and scooped Juna up from the floor and only then did Casimir look over. It was another robot, a foot or two taller than Juna from Casimir’s best estimate, and perched on it’s head was another strange creature in a black and white mask.

“Give her back!” Casimir shouted, leaping to his feet. He blocked the robot’s advance with his own body, but the other being leapt in between them.

“Can’t do that can we, oh no!” It giggled, brandishing it’s long and wicked claws. “The good doctor wants these two! They’re alive, don’t worry your silly head about it.”

It flipped backwards on top of the robot’s head once more and when it patted the side of it’s head it reached down and gently moved Casimir to the side with an unstoppable strength. Then it lifted Gordon’s prone body. Badly Casimir wanted to launch himself after the two as they walked away into the dark depths of the facility, but there was a fizzle of ozone and a crack and their presence was gone.

Gordon and Juna had left more than just wounds with Casimir and the way that they had protected each other in the heat of battle, especially Juna, inspired him deeply. Noelani and Adayemi had once protected him with their lives, but cowardly Casimir had not spared a thought to them until he was long gone and safe.

He touched the blue star on his cheek, then resolved himself to do better. He would protect everyone, not just his friends. His people deserved his protection too and he had failed even them.

When all this was over and done, Casimir knew that he would be ready to face the creatures that attacked on that day that felt like centuries ago in his memories.

He would win, at any cost.


	4. Esoteric

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Casimir's journey takes a turn for the better, briefly, before taking a turn for the worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters featured are
> 
> Ametsuchi- AndYetNoBananas  
> Percy- MacabreAustereRelume  
> Kyuu- Vashle  
> Jacob- EnfieldKit  
> Ko-Reko- AndYetNoBananas  
> Automaton- AndYetNoBananas  
> Mason and Nevara- WintersPheonix

Esoteric:  
  
[adjective]  
  
a. understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest; recondite.  
  
b. belonging to the select few.  
  
c. private; secret; confidential.  
  
Etymology: from Greek esōterikós, “inner”, equivalent to esṓter(os), “inner”.

 

\---

 

**Intermission 2: Ametsuchi’s lab- Round Two begins.**

 

\---

 

On the screens in front of Ametsuchi, a bloodbath was unfolding. A huge, skeletal creature wrestled with the survivor of a group of contestants. The creature was, of course, Percy. Freed from the confines of Ametsuchi's prison bubble, he wreaked havoc amongst the group foolish enough to stick together.

“I must admit,” Kyuu said, his voice tremulous with excitement, “I didn't expect them to try and gang up.”

Ametsuchi grinned wildly. “Oh, didn't you? It's disappointing, actually. I'm down a lot of Fate from their actions. I'll have to give theirs to some of my lost toys.”

With a wave of her hand, a shimmering portal opened next to them. Elsewhere in the room, Jacob Valentine glanced up from his work. He was only momentarily distracted, however, and quickly went back to ignoring the doctor and her escort. The portal closed behind them, just as Jacob reached a breakthrough. The whirring machine in front of him wound down to a halt, leaving only the finest glimmer of gold light at the bottom of a test tube. He held it up to his face, where it illuminated the tired, dark circles under his eyes, and smiled wistfully. Then, he jammed a thin needle into the glowing liquid and drew it out.

In a land covered in thick snow and ice, with biting winds, Percy’s wendigo form towered above Ametsuchi and Kyuu. His roar grated on the listener’s ears, like a scream and nails on a chalkboard. Thick, red threads tied him to the bodies that lay in dead heaps around him, but he paid no mind to them, and instead turned his attacks towards the doctor.

Her answering smile to his huge claw was something from Kyuu’s nightmares.

A glowing shield appeared between his claw and Ametsuchi, and he scrabbled against it furiously. Percy's wailing screams made Kyuu wince. His finger bones and claws shattered and reformed against the shield as it bore down on him. Ametsuchi continued her determined walk forward, and the shield grew and warped until it began to trap him in it's bubble form. When it finally curled around him all the way and sealed itself tightly, Kyuu breathed a sigh of relief.

“There are...pieces missing, from the ex-contestants. He should be going back to normal some time soon.” He said, gently floating over the bodies on the floor with a grimace.

“Good. Have Ko collect them and place them in the stasis chambers, I have to decide which of the remaining numbers will take on their fate.”

She held out her hand, and the red threads connecting them began to dissolve into tiny pieces. Then they floated gently, as if carried by a soft breeze, towards Ametsuchi's outstretched palm. They glowed as they touched her before they were absorbed into her skin.

Kyuu drifted close to Ametsuchi, his various tails swayed a little faster than usual, and he grinned brightly. “Ooh, I have some suggestions!”

“Of course you do, Kyuu.” Ametsuchi vanished Percy's bubble, sending it back to her lab quickly. “However, your champions will fall before they reach me. I'm sure you can see that just as well as I can.”

She stepped away from him, and with a flick of her wrist another portal appeared.

“You have to release my son and I from your contract some day, madam.”

“Don't forget your place, Kyuu.” She said. “Your Fate is mine until after this tournament.” And, with that, she vanished through the doorway, leaving Kyuu behind to keep an eye on the damage that Percy left behind.

“Dratted woman.” He scowled.

 

\---

 

**Lost Ember Zone: two days after Juna and Gordon were captured.**

 

\---

 

Casimir handed over a small collection of coins to the demon lady behind the counter, then took his bundle of strange fruit and left the store. He wore a long, black cloak draped over his shoulders, with the hood pulled up to cover the glowing star on his face. Thankfully, many of the demons that made this strange realm their home dressed just as weirdly, if not weirder, and his fluffy countenance went unnoticed. The fruit was round, and soft, with a dark green fuzz over it. It was sweet and, after getting over the trouble of finding new food to eat, Casimir found he liked it.

He had spent the last two days searching for his opponents, and any leads on the mysterious creatures that had taken Juna and Gordon, or if anyone had seen Ametsuchi herself past that fateful starfall. It was almost like being on the run again, Casimir thought, while he took a bite from the fuzzy fruit. He savoured the ripeness as he travelled towards the portal to the next zone. It was obnoxious, having to continue moving through each one, while looking for his mysterious opponents, and, especially in the ones that were populated, such as this zone.

The portal glowed blue. It was the same shade as the star on his cheek, and he wondered if it would change based on the contestant that neared it. Juna and Gordon’s stars were different colours than his.

It began to waver strangely as he approached it. Over the last two days, the portals he had seen hadn't changed or behaved strangely at all, so, thinking quickly, he dashed into one of the unoccupied buildings nearby. Hardly any of the demons wished to approach the strange portals, especially as none of them could cross them, so they had moved further inwards, fearing what creatures the portal could bring.

Then, the portal gave one, huge ripple, before spitting out a small, mostly furless creature. It appeared to be a younger version of the one he had met after accepting the star; it had short, choppy brown hair and large, teal eyes that took in it's surroundings quickly, and with purpose. It started to speak, and Casimir strained his ears to hear it from a distance.

“Well…” it said. “It doesn't look like there's anyone around. I don't like those portals, there's something weird about them.” The creature paused, then nodded. “Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a headache.”

Casimir squinted at the stranger. He supposed it was a young boy, as it did look similar enough to the other thing he met (and definitely not related to Juna and Gordon, who were definitely not a boy and definitely a robot respectively). There was a mist like blur floating around the boy and Casimir wondered what it could be. The competition was getting stranger by the day, and he thought the glowing alien with a floating head was bad enough. The boy continued talking to himself and slowly began heading in the direction of the demon's center of town, and, away from Casimir.

He followed at a slight distance, the clutch of fruit not quite forgotten under his arm. There was beginning to be more demons milling about the fringes of civilization, now that they were away from the portal, and the boy kept his head down and kept striding forward. Then, he took a sharp turn away from the center of the city and stuck to the edges instead. Casimir trailed after him doggedly, until, at the very border between the city and a bottomless pit, there boy wheeled around to face him.

“Why are you following me?” He demanded.

“We might just be heading in the same direction.”

“Don't try and trick me, my friend watched you follow me from the portal.”

Casimir tilted his head curiously. “Your friend? The fuzzy blur on your right? I knew I could see something. What is it?”

The boy looked shocked, his head whipping around to stare at the fuzzy blur floating by his head. He nodded, then looked back to Casimir. “You can see Nevara. She's a spirit.”

“A spirit?” Casimir pulled his hood down, revealing himself and the glowing star on his face. “Are you a priest?”

“You're a contestant.” The boy looked at him warily, and took back from Casimir. “No, I'm not a priest. At least I don't think so.”

Casimir blinked at him. “Ah. The priests of my people could speak to the dead. They often had very good advice. No, I wanted to know if you'd fought anyone else in the tournament yet- and I have a warning.”

“If it's a warning not to fight you, you'll have to excuse me if I don't take it. I need those stars too.”

Casimir waved his hands back and forth, and shook his head in denial. “No, no that's not it at all. I don't want to fight for them if I can help it. Please just tell me, what happened to your last opponent?”

The boy stared at him, eyes hard and piercing. “She gave her star up, and we parted ways.”

“And she didn't pass out afterwards? No giant metal creature, or weird purple clothed jester with a black and white mask?”

Weirdly, the boy didn't act with shock or confusion. His eyes narrowed just slightly and he turned to look at the blur at his side. “Euphy mentioned a purple guy with a black and white mask, didn't she?”

“When I took my opponent’s stars, they passed out. Then those two appeared and took them. They have some method of moving between zones without a portal.”

Now that he was close enough, Casimir could hear a faint noise as something replied to the boy's question. It was like listening to rushing water, as if someone was shouting over the top of a storm, but very, very quiet. The spirit spoke at length and the boy argued with it- they seemed to be having trouble deciding whether or not they should go back for the other contestant.

“No, Nevara! She might be in trouble, we have to check.”

“I can take the skies, if you guys search the ground.” Casimir offered.

“How can we trust you?” The boy asked quietly.

“I don't suppose you can, not properly.” Casimir frowned. He scuffed his toes in the dirt of the floor and shrugged at them. “But there's something fishy going on with this tournament.”

The boy regarded him coolly, and with barely disguised suspicion. Then his stomach rumbled loudly. Casimir grinned and giggled. He held out the last pair of the fruit he had bought.

“Here. They look a bit strange, but they're sweet.”

“Come on. Let's go back to the portal. We have to find Euphy.” The boy took the fruit, and started back the way they had come.

They travelled quickly, and the portal spat them out in a broad plain sparsely dotted with towering trees and lush foliage. A wide stream flowed next to them, cool and clear, and Casimir could smell the petrichor of fresh rain in the air. He took a deep, welcoming breath and stretched out his arms widely.

“Tell me what this girl looks like.” He said, barely restraining his excitement about being in the air in such a beautiful area again. “Also, my name is Casimir. It's nice to meet you.”

The boy introduced himself as Mason, and his partner spirit as Nevara, and Casimir warned them not to try and fight the strange purple creature and it's robot, before letting his magic loose across his body. Feathers burst into life down his arms, forming huge, imposing wings. His eyes resettled into their proper places and blinked at the confused looking Mason.

“That's...something all right.”

Casimir took off with a gleeful laugh into the sky. He span through the air, a burst of hot wind filling his feathers from below until he found a natural updraft and followed it to the tallest tree in the area. Landing on one of the thicker branches, he braced himself against the trunk of it and maneuvered himself into sitting down. He wasn't quite near the very top of it, as the branches became too thin to safely land on, but it was enough to see quite a distance away. There was a towering mountain range hemming the horizon to the north, with a densely packed forest around it's edges, a small town that glinted strangely in the sunlight, and, to Cas’ joy, a series of small, floating islands interconnected by long wooden bridges.

 _This would be a nice place to stay,_ he thought, on the chance that he failed in his quest. He wondered if the people he could see, bustling about in the small village on the periphery of his vision, would mind a stranger like him.

Turning his attention away from the village, he scanned the grassy plains and densely packed forest around him. Mason and his blurry friend were heading towards the village, so he could leave the reconnaissance of that to them, but since he couldn't see any little girls with white fluffy wings and a mask walking around from his perch, he began the flight to the next most likely place she would be. The forest near the portal.

Hours passed with no sign of the girl, and the designated time to meet back up was beginning to tick closer. Casimir hoped that Mason had found her because she wasn't anywhere near the other portals. He made his way back dejectedly, dragging his feet a little just in case she was hiding, but sadly she didn't leap out of the underbrush at him. His optimism at being in a new, and beautiful, place flagged a little but he took a deep breath and pushed onwards through the forest. It would take him a little while to travel on foot so he alternated between long glides through the tree boughs and searching the ground on his return.

 _Hopefully,_ he thought, _Mason found her already, and I’m just hanging around being silly for no reason._

He swiftly moved closer to the meeting point, but there was no sign of Mason or his ghostly friend. Casimir glanced up at the sun, which was a little further than directly overhead, and frowned to himself. This was definitely where they’d agreed to meet back up at, and it was definitely around the time to meet. Perhaps they were in trouble? He shifted his wings back into their midform and settled down at the base of the tree. The long grass brushed his sides and he hoped that there weren’t any bugs in his vicinity, hiding amongst the soft stems. The thought made him shudder.

Under the heat of the midday sun, Casimir found himself getting dozy and dreamy. It was easy to nod off while comfortably nestled amongst the roots of the tree; especially after the gross, rotten horror of the previous zone. His mind wandered while he waited. And, slowly, Casimir’s eyes began to drift shut.

_There was fire. It burnt at his sides and his fingers and seared the grey stone brick to blackened ash._

 

_There was wind. It howled through the broken castle walls and chased him through it’s corridors._

 

_There was water. It fell as ice cold rain that soaked his fur and skin, and ran in long rivulets down his hair and into his eyes._

Casimir sat up with a start, a growl half dying in the back of his throat. Electricity crackled down his limbs in fits and bursts. His heart felt like it would burst out of his chest with how hard it thumped against his ribcage, and he took a deep breath, and then another, until he felt the fear-panic-run feeling fade. Dragging his fingers through his hair, Casimir stood up and took a look around. Nothing had changed too much in the time he’d been asleep. The sun was still high in the sky, weird birds fluttered past, but there in the distance was Mason walking closer and closer.

Casimir stood up in one quick bound and waved excitedly at the approaching figure. Sadly it seemed that Mason was alone, or as alone as he could be what with his ever present spirit floating by his side, and had had just as little luck finding the girl as Casimir had. His face was downcast, the frown of disappointment and concern on his features. He seemed to be animatedly discussing something with Nevara but, as they got closer, the two became quiet.

“No luck. Casimir, why are you trying to find the losers, aren’t you trying to win too?” Mason asked.

He didn’t reply for a moment, and frowned while he thought over his answer. “I...Whatever happened to my opponents, they don’t deserve anything bad to happen to them.”

“The elves that live in that village told us that that purple guy and the robot picked Euphy up from the village after I left. You’re right, something weird is happening.”

“We need to stop it. Whatever it is, what they’re doing...I don’t trust them.”

Mason nodded, and, although Cas could tell by the rushing water mutter from Nevara that she wasn’t happy, she didn’t seem to be arguing about the decision either. Nevertheless Casimir took Mason by the hand and shook it between his two large paws.

“Then that makes us teammates! Or, partners I guess? At least until this whole thing is over. We could just...collect contestants!” He grinned, although it was a little wobbly and nervous. It seemed to make the young boy smile sadly back at him at least.

“There’ll always be someone that refuses the peaceful options, though.”

There was a dark chuckle, from somewhere to the side of the small group. A blurry shape, hidden by the scrub and underbrush, shifted. “That would be very adorable, but I’m afraid I’ve been asked to put a stop to your fun here.”

The voice was rough and throaty, and it scraped unpleasantly against Casimir’s ears. He pinned them back against the sides of his head in protest but the figure just began to laugh even harder than before.

“Dr Ametsuchi is a little put off by a few of Kyuu’s predictions, you see. And you two? Well you’re in the way.”

Casimir could almost hear Nevara’s panicked shouting when the figure revealed itself from the shadows and foliage. He wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t recognized the voice or their silhouette, because the once very ordinary looking Jacob was twisted into an even stranger creature. He seemed something out of Casimir’s very nightmares. The side of his face was twisted into an ugly snarl, with a single oversized fang protruding over his lower lip, and half covered in russet red fur. Bright green eyes stared, unblinkingly, from amongst the whorls of fur in small clusters, on his neck and wrists and twisting up one painfully mangled leg. Half formed wings pushed from his back, dripping dark feathers as Jacob limped closer. Both his hands were now more claw than finger. They twitched in sharp, jerking movements like he was itching to grasp something within them.

“I’m not usually one to get involved with these fights, but I would like to test out the abilities you gave me Casimir.”

Casimir flinched back, away from the shambling creature. “Gave you? All I gave you was a feather!”

“And that was all I needed.”

Jacob moved faster than Casimir thought would be possible, especially without a secondary form transformation. He sped towards them in a single bound. Cracks formed in the earth from where he leapt. He swung wildly, his burning fist just barely missing the lion by an inch. Cas stumbled and tripped over his feet, wheeling backwards away from the smouldering fists and claws and teeth that Jacob turned on him.

A rock sailed through the air with a whistle, and collided heavily with the side of Jacob’s head. He turned sharply in his attackers direction but Mason was already moving. He darted swiftly behind the cover of the trees and deeper into the heavier foliage. With Jacob’s attention elsewhere Casimir threw himself forward with his claws extended. He slashed at Jacob, tearing chunks of flesh from his shoulder. Blood splattered the ground at their feet. They were all fur and teeth and fangs and snarling, biting, gnashing. For all his training, however, Casimir was being driven backwards by Jacob's relentless assault. A gash bled on his brow, dripping into his eye and blurring his vision, ragged fur fell from the slices on his arms and shoulders and his breath came in short pants. Red was starting to tint the edges of his vision.

The next attack from Mason seemed to come from nowhere. He wielded a long, sharp spear. It glistened in the light, reflecting fractals of ice as he moved. The boy was adept at using it as a weapon, easily deflecting Jacob’s claws with both ends of it, as if it was an extension of his own body. Loudly, Casimir cackled.

“This is where it gets good!”

Bubbles exploded from the floor where Casimir had stamped his feet. They shattered in a shower of golden light, illuminating the area in quick bursts. Jacob flinched backwards and the mutated parts of his body writhed angrily, as if they were going to pull themselves from him.

“We’re not going to just lay down and let this happen.”

Then, to his surprise, he heard another voice. “Mason, seriously, we should leave while we have the chance.”

Cas glanced behind around, the voice didn’t seem to have a definite source but had that distant rushing water tone. He blocked the quick flurry of strikes with just his bare gauntlet. A slash of his arm downwards brought a cutting arc of water through the air in a vicious wave that Jacob dodged, but only barely. He heard a sharp intake of breath behind him, but it was lost to a forceful blast of wind, directed by Mason, that propelled Jacob backwards. It lodged him halfway into the bark of a tree and it’s trunk creaked and cracked ominously.

A swift punch to his sternum crushed the last of the tree’s body and threw Jacob through it until he skidded heavily on the ground. But, then, he was up again. Blood and spittle ran in thin trickles down his teeth and gnashing fangs. Jacob wavered on his feet for just a moment, but a moment was all his recovery took. Flames shot from his mouth and scorched the very air until each breath from Mason and Casimir was laboured. When the flames from Jacob had abated they stayed lit on the dry underbrush, which was swiftly becoming a wildfire. Mason flinched back from the crackling flames, his eyes darting back and forth, and searched desperately for an exit but found himself ringed in by the magically started fire. Nevara cursed. Panic was beginning to set in. If she had a pulse it would have been ringing in her ears. The spear began to melt in Mason’s hands.

“It’s too hot!” Mason shielded his face against the wall of heat that licked at them. “Nevara, are you okay?!”

Casimir stood tall against Jacob and his attack, seemingly undaunted, but his ears were pressed flat against the back of his head and his fur bristled. Against all odds, ice was beginning to form around his feet. It branched out in glistening spirals, sharp and jagged edges and reached for Mason and Nevara.

“You’re nothing but a cheap knockoff.” He snarled at Jacob. “Your strength will never match mine.”

There was a rumble of thunder overhead. The smoke from Jacob’s fire joined the greying skies. Jacob’s mutated form pulsed once more and he cried out in pain, doubling over himself, and feathers burst from his skin, his arms and wrists and back, before falling limply to the ground, covered in blood. Casimir raised one of his arms to the sky.

“Mason, the magic in the air is out of control.” Nevara warned. They could feel the temperature fluctuate wildly back and forth between freezing and blistering heat. The fire around them flickered and wavered, came back stronger than ever, then died down again. Over and over the cycle repeated itself.

Seeing his chance when the fire died down to almost nothing Mason stepped back, then took a running jump over the dwindling flames. Casimir could only glance in his direction before the storm broke. Lightning streaked the sky, illuminating the area in white. The trees crashed and creaked and groaned. Casimir made a fist with his extended hand, then pulled down hard. The rain began immediately. It soaked the area in a matter of seconds and Jacob's magical fire stuttered and failed. The man wailed. His claws dug deep grooves into the sides of his face as he dragged them down viciously.

There was a quick blur of movement on the edges of Casimir’s vision, a purple smear against the dark green and yellow backdrop. He span to face it but it moved too quickly. It cut a path through the rain and the leaves, heading straight for-

“Mason, watch out!” He called, arm outstretched for the boy but the blur hit him first.

He's thrown backwards, along with Nevara, into the scorched ring of grass next to Casimir. Mason landed in a spray of water and torn up grasses. It left mud and green streaks down his clothes and face. He groaned weakly, but didn't  stand. His spear had disappeared. The purple blur stood across from them, fencing them in the middle of itself and the lunatic Jacob.

Casimir’s ears flattened against the back of his head. He stood, almost over the top of Mason's unconscious form. A shimmering, icicle cold woman knelt next to them. Her body was semi-transparent, but where she touched the ground it had begun to freeze.

“What did you do with Juna and Gordon.”

Even to his own ears, his voice sounded flat and tense. The masked creature laughed. It was manic and high pitched and bent it's whole body in a mockery of humanity.

“Wouldn't you like to know?” It raised it's huge, glittering claws. “Only one of you can continue here today! The boy is already out- now's your chance. Or don't you want to save your people?”

Against his better nature, he glanced down at the prone form beneath him. The star shone enticingly. He could just. Reach out. Be done with it.

Nevara’s skin was shining like diamonds. Her eyes were wide with shock and fear and anger. They made eye contact over Mason's prone form.

“Don't worry, Nevara.” Casimir said, “I can still fight.”

“You can see me?” She asked, incredulously.

“For now. I have a few minutes left.” He dropped into a defensive stance. Thick spears of ice rose from his clothes, their sharp tips glinting in the low light.

“Fine!” The creature laughs again. “We'll just have to force you.”

“He's my specimen, Ko-Reko! Stay out of this!” Jacob snarls from across the way. His body seems to be failing under it's own weight. Thick patches of skin slough off to be replaced with fur, and teeth, and eyes, but even they don't remain in place for very long.

The purple creature, Ko-Reko, at least Casimir had a name for it now, ignores him. It crooked it's claws forward and from the shadows of the trees, the hulking metal box shuddered towards them. Nevara moved first. With a cry of rage dying in her throat, she threw herself at Ko-Reko and created barrier after barrier of thick sheets of ice with barely a movement of her arms. The blades hidden up Ko’s sleeves burnt brightly, suddenly, and the fire trembled but he jammed it deep into the walls of ice heedlessly. He dragged the burning claws through the ice, though it began to reform it wouldn’t be nearly fast enough, and continued his unharried pace forward to Casimir. With two ice wielding, magical creatures fighting, the pouring rain was beginning to chill in the air, and a slush was forming underfoot. The sad, not quite snow buffeted Casimir’s side and he redirected it with a wave of his arm and the push of _intent._ Ko-Reko seemed unphased, barely even a lost step against the wave of heavy sleet, and his metal creature escort loomed over Casimir.

Their great, wide hands grasped him, pinning his arms to his sides, with a grip that belied an unbelievable strength but did not press any further than simply holding Casimir still. He snarled and struggled and wriggled against their hold but even his greatly enhanced strength failed to budge it even an inch. The spears surrounding him shattered like sugar. A great wave of anger flooded him, at himself, at this purple creature, at this _stupid tournament!_ But even using the swirling, icy cold winds that surrounded them to drag against the metal thing did nothing.

Ko leapt into the air, seeming to gently twist through the angry squall as if it was nothing more than a summer breeze, and alighted on the metal giant arm holding Casimir in place. He had Mason’s prone form dangling from his claws. The metal speared the boy’s baggy scarf and clothes. Desperately Nevara tried to push and shove at the menacing creature, but barely managed to displace his strange clothes. Casimir’s power waned and began to fade, even still he fought it, and he clung to the last dregs of magical energy that disappeared from his body like water through a sieve.

Quite unceremoniously, with the transformation gone, Ko-Reko dumped Mason on top of Casimir.

The bright glow of the star reacted immediately. He felt the magic on his cheek pulse twice as it was torn from Mason’s body and Nevara’s floating form. The ghostly woman shuddered, but didn’t faint like Juna and Gordon had. His deed done, Ko draped Mason over the top of his escort, who then released Casimir, and touched down gently to the ground.

The wind had begun to die down, and, with it, Nevara began to fade away from Casimir’s sight.

A swift kick threw him backwards into the wet slush on the ground, the strain of using his magic so hard tugging on his consciousness and the heavy thud of his head against the frozen earth sent his vision swimming.

“I’m following them,” Nevara said, her voice waning like a dying echo. “Don’t die.”

 

And then, darkness.


	5. Desiderium

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters featured are
> 
> Kyuu- Vashle  
> Ko-Reko- AndYetNoBananas  
> Automaton- AndYetNoBananas  
> Kyle and Pestle- Arbiter0676

DESIDERIUM  
[ _noun_ __]  
1\. longing, desire, wish.  
2\. grief, regret.  
3\. need, necessity.  
4\. (In plural) pleasures, desires.  
_Etymology_ : Latin from _dēsīderō_ , “want, desire, wish for; miss, lack, need”.

\---

Casimir awoke to the feeling of his arms being pressed tightly to his sides by a length of some sort of rope. He peeled his eyes open and wriggled against the bonds, testing the strength of the knot and the rope itself. It held fast. He snarled, and for a moment he considered setting it ablaze, even despite the risk it posed to himself, for it would only take a thought to push his will into the bindings and sear the lot. However, another strange creature made their presence known by drifting dramatically down from the boughs of the unscorched trees around them. Their multitudinous tails flickered in and out of existence, wafting around their body like silk scarves, and they seemed to bask in Casimir’s undivided attention.

“Hello, lovely!” They said, pushing silvery pink bangs out of their eyes with dainty fingers. “I suppose you might be wondering what you’re doing here, all trussed up and pretty?”

Casimir growled low in his throat, rethinking that plan to burn the rope alone and extending it to the surrounding area as well. He’d survive, it would be fine. The heat in the area began to rise.

“Now, now. Don’t be silly. I’m not a competitor. In fact, I have some fantastic information for you that you will require in order to win your true destiny back-!”

Immediately Casimir stamped out the wild, angry magic internally. “My true destiny?”

“Dear boy, you haven’t figured it out yet? Every single one of you is here for a reason and it’s not- nor will it ever be- the reason you want or believe.”

“I’m here to save my people! She promised us a wish, a way to choose our own destiny.”

He strained against the bonds holding him again.

“She’s a liar, Casimir darling. Sure, she can set you back in the timeline before she got her nasty pokey fingers inside it but she needs a few things from you people first- and you’re not going to like it.” The metallic looking creature lowered themselves to the ground, toes barely touching it as if they weighed nothing at all. They leant closely to Casimir’s face with their hands on their knees. “All these competitors that are being taken away after you win? She’s stealing their fate, literally. Every possible choice or action that they could have made will make her more powerful. And I hate people who mess with fate.”

\---

Somewhere, deep in the bowels of the Shrapnel Heart Zone, a human man dressed all in black dragged his young charge towards their exit. He was getting tired of her whining but they had to keep moving. Despite not being interested in the tournament in the slightest, he was two (technically three, but Allen and his friend were a team) competitors down out of who knew how many. Knowing his luck, he’d have to fight his way to the end of all of this just to get back to his team. Things were getting weirder and weirder around here.

“Mr Kyle, I’m hungry again!” Pestle pulled on his hand where he had it around her thin, pale wrist until she was sliding across the metal floor on the backs of her heels.

“We’ll find you something to eat in the next zone, there’s nothing here but death and trash.” He fixed his eyes solidly on the end of the hall they were taking, and refused to grace the girl with eye contact. He knew she was sheltered, but this was getting ridiculous.

“Bee had food, he gave me nuggets.” She pouted, scuffing the floor with her toes. “Where’d he go again?”

“Somewhere else,” Kyle grit through his teeth. If the girl asked him one more damn question, he was going to lose his marbles. “Let’s go.”

Finally, around a few more corners in the maze of a building, they came to the portal that would lead them to the next zone. They’d been through Ice Horizon, this one was Shrapnel Heart, and the next was somewhere called Castle Wish? It sounded promising enough. Their stars glowed with their weird power, allowing them access through the portal that glowed in kind, and he pulled Pestle through.

On the other side of it, Kyle took a deep, shuddering, unhappy breath, and continued onwards. Everything was purple, or pink, or glittering, or glowing. “Like some sort of ugly, fucked up amusement park…” he muttered to himself.

Pestle, on the other hand, seemed to be overjoyed by their surroundings. Her little eyes lit up with glee as a swarm of bright blue butterflies flew past them. “Mr Kyle, Mr Kyle! It’s so pretty!”

He watched the girl dash forward and chase the fluttering insects, arms outstretched wide. “Don't go too far, we need to find you food and we don't know what's out here."

“Yes, Mr Kyle."

\---

“What do you know about how the end of your people was brought about?”

Casimir turned his head away, unable to look the creature in their eyes.”It was my fault. The Nepherim specifically wanted to discuss the peace treaty between myself and my parents, but I didn’t want to hear it. They kept pushing me and pushing me to go to this meeting and I ran away and hid…”

He took a deep breath, shoulders tense and drawn tightly. His companion settled down on the ground next to Casimir but, if you looked closely, you’d see that they floated just barely above the grass.

“What if I told you,” they said, “that it was never your fault at all?”

It felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. Although Casimir had no idea what the creature could be talking about, it felt like hope. “What do you mean?”

“We’ll start at the very beginning, shall we?

Your people tell of your Gods, and your gift of magic and transformation. Your legends say the Gods granted you these powers and the Nepherim were jealous and declared an endless war.

A hundred, thousand years later- it’s not a coincidence they chose now to ask for a peace treaty Casimir. Ametsuchi knows exactly where to push, where to pull, how to change a people’s fate in order to concentrate it on one person.

You.”

The ropes binding Casimir still fell away under their deft fingers while they spoke, leaving Casimir sitting on the soggy, muddy, burnt ground in a confused stupor. He shook his head, attempting to clear his thoughts, then dragged his fingers through his hair.

“What?”

“I’ll lay it out simply for you. Ametsuchi is behind every bad Fate everyone in this tournament has ever suffered or ever will suffer- including the deaths of your people. If you want your revenge, you have to take it out on her.”

\---

The doors didn’t lead to the same place twice, and it was pissing Kyle off. He closed the heavy wooden door in front of him that, logic dictated, should put him out around where the library would be. It was not the library, but instead a cupboard filled with brooms and mops and a confused looking rodent. Behind him, Pestle was in the kitchen -the door should have lead to a hallway or a bedroom or something but, no, it was the kitchen- gorging herself on fresh fruit and sweets that seemed to have been laid out recently. There was no proper way to check for poison, but Pestle was a bio-weapon. She should be fine. So long as the door didn’t shut. He hefted the shotgun and tried again. This time it relinquished the library onto him and Kyle turned around slightly to shout at his young charge.

“Pestle! I found the library, stay in the kitchen unless someone else appears- then come get me.”

She looked up from her stack of fluffy pancakes and nodded.

“There's got to be a map, or something, in this blasted place…” he muttered to himself, fingers trailing along the spines of the books in front of him.

The books didn't seem to be in any particular order, some of the titles or author's names were in alphabetical order but others were not. Some were written in an odd, spiralling script, and others had jagged, bold lettering on their covers. Kyle wandered aimlessly, but kept an eye on the open door.

After pawing through a couple of the books that he could read, but finding nothing of importance, he turned back towards the exit. There was a strange ringing in his ears, quiet and tinny but definitely there, and he shook his head to clear the noise. However the further he walked the louder it seemed to get until it was a raging crescendo inside his ears. Kyle's knees hit the floor and he clenched his hands tightly over his head but still the noise echoed and rang throughout the room.

\---

“Tell me what I have to do.”

“For a start~” Kyuu sang, tapping Casimir on the nose with a long and delicate finger, “you need to stop trying to be friends with your opponents.”

Casimir dragged his knees to his chest and curled in towards himself. “I just thought we could get along.”

The creature rolled their eyes, and floated gently away from where Casimir slouched on the floor unhappily. “This is a tournament, where the winner decides their true fate, Casimir. You can’t make friends or get along with everyone that’s trying to kill you- you should know that already.”

“I do.” He said, dejectedly, and stood up. He shook off the mud and rain from himself in a wild spray that made Kyuu flinch back away from him with a sneer across his beautiful features.

“Good! That’s step one. Step two is win.”

\---

Kyle grabbed for the bookshelf closest to him, attempting to use it to steady himself, but with the screeching ringing in his ears his bid for stability upended a collection of books right on top of his head. He hissed in pain, one hand pressing tightly against his temple while the other pushed the books away from him. Suddenly, while he was about to throw one in a fit of anger across the room, the noise stopped. It didn’t even leave behind the sharp tinnitus noise of listening to loud music. Kyle looked at the book in confusion. It was thin and bound in black leather, with no title or author on the spine or cover. It had been bent in half at some point and showed signs of heavy use. He flipped it open, read a few lines from a page in the middle, then immediately dropped it to the floor. That was definitely his handwriting, and the way he wrote. Tentatively, he picked the book up again and continued reading.

Loop 35

The child and I are still trapped in this castle. The tournament continues to rage around us. At my last count, we have died or been beaten by another competitor thirty five times. The kitsune creature has returned the memories of the previous timelines to me each time, but he grows more and more disillusioned. I fear we cannot beat his master.

Loop 63

He is only returning the memories to me out of propriety, but this book continues to exist in each timeline. Perhaps the castle is a stable loop. I have requested he not give Pestle her previous memories, as her repeated deaths are beginning to affect her in ways I could not forsee.

Loop 80

Kyuu informs me this will be the last time he returns my memories. I am painfully aware that these time loops will continue, even without my knowledge of them. I can only hope that whoever Kyuu chooses next will be able to break us out of this cursed existence. Ametsuchi’s experiment must be stopped, at all costs.  
This will more than likely be my final log, unless my future selves also record their time in this diary.  
Kyle Warren

“Scary, isn’t it?”

What Kyle could only describe as a lion-like creature stepped out from behind the shadows of a towering bookcase. It’s gloved fists burnt white-hot, but it didn’t seem to affect him.

“Knowing you’ve done this before?” It nodded at the book in Kyle’s hands.

“You know about this?” He shut the book with a snap, free hand slowly moving towards the holster hanging from his hip.

“Kyuu filled me in.” The creature shrugged loosely but the fire in it's hands burnt hotter, until it travelled almost the whole way up it's arms. “My name is Casimir. I'm sorry, but I have to take your star now.”

\---

Casimir's heart beat in his throat. His opponent hadn't noticed him until he’d revealed himself but he couldn't just launch a surprise attack. The man was pale after reading the book in his hands and seemed to be fighting the need to shake. He could understand. Kyuu’s revelations- and the subsequent memory transfer- had certainly made him feel like puking at the very least.

The man moved fast, grabbing a strange weapon from the black holster at his side, and launched a painful volley. It sounded like an explosion, held in the palm of his hands, and when the first shot tore through his shoulder Casimir's instincts went wild with the pain. Blood blossomed on the uniform. He threw himself up and forward, over his opponent, landing in an angry crouch behind him.

“What is that?!” He snarled, throwing up a defensive, burning, wall of fire between them.

“You've never seen a gun before?” Kyle asked, stepping away from the heat. It scorched black marks on the ceiling and floor but didn't catch and spread.

Casimir held his injured shoulder and hissed painfully. Blood was still seeping into his clothes, but the bullet had gone straight through the muscle and thankfully was not stuck inside him. He seared the wound closed with a burning finger. The smell of burnt flesh and fur joined the ashy smell of burning wood.

Without warning, he threw himself at Kyle again. The flames parted and snuffed themselves out and although the man was fast, Casimir was faster. He threw a solid punch at the man's retreating form, one that launched Kyle through the stacks of bookshelves with an almighty crash.

The precious moments of his transformation ticked away in the back of his head. Kyle was already hauling himself to his feet, though he was clearly attempting to mask the pain in his features. Casimir's punch had left a red, blistering burn across his cheek and seared half of an eyebrow away. The man pulled another, longer weapon from the bag that he carried and shot at Casimir who desperately ducked and weaved from the concussive blasts. He knew he had to go on the offensive, there were only moments before-

“Mr Kyle! What's going on?” A shrill, innocent voice asked.

There was a child, standing amongst the wrecked piles of books and burnt wood. Strange insects buzzed around her head in aimless patterns. As Casimir's plan formed, Kyle's feet were already moving. Fire licked the floor around the lion's feet and, just once, as he reached his charge, Kyle locked eyes with his opponent. Even from across the room, he could see his heart had hardened.

\---

After being alerted that a star had been taken, Ko-Reko and the faithful Automation stepped through their judge's portal to a scene of destruction. What had once been a pleasant wing of the castle had been reduced to ashes and rubble. The castle itself seemed to shiver, parts of it's rooms exposed to the rest of the zone. Lying unconscious amongst the destruction, and certainly not unharmed, were the two competitors they had been sent to collect.

“Rough!” Laughed Ko, as the machine he rode lifted the two gingerly. “Looks like they're alive- but that's gonna leave a scar!”

He glanced around the area, but there seemed to be no sign of Casimir. Behind the mask, his eyes narrowed.

\---

Somewhere far away, Casimir took deep breaths and steadied himself against a wall. The last few moments of fire and screaming and bright burning light replayed endlessly in his head. His hands shook uncontrollably as his memories of the attack blurred and meshed with his own battle against a child and her guardian. He choked back a sob, and squashed the noise threatening to build in the back of his throat, and told himself again.

It would be better, when it was all over.


	6. Alate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EY I’m fucking done.
> 
> There’s some stuff I probably should have put in or drawn out longer but I really wanted to finish the end of Casimir’s journey. From a smug, self assured asshole to...
> 
> A smug, self assured asshole that knows how to make friends. Lol
> 
> Things I’d change if I was going to rewrite it, hm. I’d definitely keep Cas more in character. He kind of evolved out of my control.
> 
> Anyway I started this OCT in a good place, ended up in a bad place in the middle and now I’m finally in a good place again ;;
> 
> Characters featured are:
> 
> Ametsuchi- AndYetNoBananas  
> Percy- MacabreAustereRelume  
> Kyuu- Vashle  
> Jacob- EnfieldKit  
> Ko-Reko- AndYetNoBananas  
> Automaton- AndYetNoBananas  
> Pheonix- Aternova  
> Jill and Allen- Cassadiller  
> Juna Gold and Gordon Gilgamesh- AmadeusGuy  
> Izz- Cyberfire22  
> Beatrice- Kolthedestroyer  
> Mason and Nevara- WintersPheonix

ALATE   
[ _ adjective _ ]   
having winglike extensions or parts; winged.   
_ Etymology _ : from Latin  _ ālātus _ , from  _ āla _ , “wing”.

 

—-

 

Hours later, when the fire had died down and the shaking in his hands had stopped, Casimir finally continued his search for the next contestant he had to defeat. He had three stars in total from his successes, and Kyuu had made it clear he needed five to get access to Ametsuchi’s main portal and confront her. He asked himself if he was really ready for this- by any means necessary he had to defeat the last of his opponents and Ametsuchi herself. Casimir took a deep breath, and then another, until he had steeled himself for the rest of his journey.

 

He continued moving through the zone, weaving his way through the raised wooden paths and strangely coloured buildings. Butterflies flitted past him in disorganized swoops and he batted them out of his way with the back of his hand. One drifted sadly to the ground. Cas set his shoulders, and continued onwards.

 

Elsewhere Izz, a robot competitor previously in charge of a supply depot, and his friends could smell the smoke beginning to waft through the area. They had gathered far from the building the housed the library, but the scent of smoke was getting stronger. One of them, a boy named Allen, sniffed the air warily.

 

“Does anyone else smell that?” He asked, peering around them to try and locate the source of the smell.

 

His teammate Jill nodded, her strange cat hat mirroring the worry and confusion on her face. The last member of their group, a little black ink-like creature, tilted their head to the side.

 

“A smell? What sort of smell?” 

 

“Like burning.”

 

The group headed towards the smell in the air, but slowly in case the cause was still around and aggressive. Finally, Jill spotted it. The rubble of the library, still smoldering, but with no one else in sight around it. She dashed over embers and stamped on the brightest ones until they died underfoot.

 

“It looks like whatever caused this moved on pretty quickly, huh?” Allen thought out loud, smushing a few of the embers himself.

 

“Enemy?”

 

“Yes, Phoenix, probably.” Izz answered. His optics scanned the horizon around them and the other buildings and trees, but thankfully whatever had happened didn’t seem to have left a trail of destruction after it. “A competitor, I think.”

 

“This is horrible!” Jill lamented from a distance, finishing up with her ember smothering duties. The smell of ash still hung acrid on the air, but it was beginning to dissipate.

 

Allen patted her on the shoulder sadly, “At least it won’t spread any further. You have some ash riiiight here.” He gestured wildly to Jill’s entire body, and she looked down and laughed. She really was covered in it from almost head to toe.

 

—-

 

Beatrice’s toes skimmed the treetops below her. Her broom’s engine sputtered and she gave it a good, swift, kick. With a loud roar she began to rise again into the air. Ever since she woke in the cabin, alone, and with another star on her hand, her mind had been out of sorts. Even more out of sorts than it had been during the rest of the adventure. She couldn’t even say she hadn’t wanted this. 

 

Suddenly, there was a whistling noise through the air. It sounded like something picking up speed. Beatrice glanced around wildly before looking up as a shadow covered her. The sun was blotted out by a strange, lion looking creature with huge wings. Her ensuing dive took her roaring through the tree branches below, their broken limbs snagging on her long hair and dress. Above her the lion also began to crash wildly through them.

 

There was a crackle of electricity, the hair on her arms beginning to stand on end, and Beatrice threw herself behind one of the huge trunks before a bolt of white lightning arced towards her. It snapped through the air and shattered one of the trunks closest to her hiding place. Peering back around the tree, Beatrice could see that the lion’s huge wings were gone, replaced by normal-ish looking arms. He was breathing heavily, fur singed lightly in patches, and holding himself as if he was hiding an injury.

 

“You’re a competitor, aren’t you!” She called, clicking her broom into it’s gun configuration. Pawing through her bag, Beatrice grabbed a handful of berries and jammed a couple of them into her mouth.

 

“Give me your star!”

 

—-

 

The girl’s weapon packed a punch. It felt like a cannonball had struck Casimir in the side. His injuries from his earlier fight hadn’t healed properly, could still feel the heat on his skin from the burning building even, and hadn’t escaped the rubble unscathed either…

 

_ Casimir grabbed the unconscious Kyle and hauled him over his shoulder, then stuffed the tiny girl under his other arm. It was awkward and difficult but the fire was beginning to spread through the library. His internal timer was close to running out, and he felt like he was still awake through sheer nervous energy. The building blazed. He stumbled through the racks of books towards the closest exit, dodging the crumbling support beams and chunks of brick that were beginning to fall. Casimir kicked the door open, splintering the wood under his heel, and threw the two competitors out to the relative safety of the hallway. He cried out as a heavy, burning slab of brick and mortar swiped his side… _

 

Wincing, Casimir sheltered himself behind two trunks that had been destroyed in their battle. He held the wound on his side tightly and began to charge the static electricity in the air. Lightning wasn’t his favorite weapon, doubly so with no magical form to back him up. It had a great risk of backfiring as lightning was as indiscriminate and powerful as fire. There was a crack of a branch nearby and he loosed the bolt building up inside him. It crashed through the air, sending Casimir backwards with the sheer force of it, and narrowly missed the girl. She’d had to fling herself away, dropping the strange weapon she wielded just to move fast enough. The bolt of lightning arced towards the weapon, but dissipated into the ground before it could strike.

 

“It’s made of metal, isn’t it!” He called over the logs. “Give me your star, I won’t miss again if you pick that thing up!”

 

—-

 

Beatrice's heart pounded in her chest. She had gotten a couple of solid blasts in earlier but without her broom she wasn't going to be good for much. She decided she could come back for it later. As loathe as she was to leave it behind, it was too dangerous with her opponent patrolling the way he was. Beatrice ran as fast as she could into the forest around them, smacking blue and purple branches away with her hands.

 

“Hey!” She heard the lion shout behind her, but she was already escaping into the distance.

 

The air began to get thick with electricity again, and there was a soft crackling noise seemingly coming from all directions at once. Suddenly lightning ripped through the trees next to Beatrice. It was quickly followed by a heavy boom that had her covering her ears with a yelp. She cast a glance behind her, stumbling over her feet as she hurried to get away, at the lion who was holding onto his wrist as if in pain. He was snarling, wrinkling his nose and baring his teeth at her. The fur on his body seemed to stick out in all directions at once.

 

Beatrice carried on running.

 

—-

 

There was definitely something weird happening in the forested area. Allen was keeping a close eye on the smoke in the distance, although it didn’t seem to be getting any closer. Suddenly, a wave of  _ force  _ blasted through the area. It swept the Phoenix into the air and Jill had to grab hold of his outstretched hands and pull him close. A few of the smaller trees around them bowed, their tips stretching to touch the ground. There was a cracking noise- something deep in the forest falling over.

 

“What was that?!” The Phoenix curled around Jill’s shoulders tightly, tiny claws gripping the fabric of her jacket. The energy faded but left the crackle of static in the air behind it.

 

“Something big, perhaps?” Izz’s optics whirred with distress. “Should we go find out?”

 

“It was probably a competitor.” Allen’s brows furrowed.

 

“Let’s go see!” Before anyone could catch her, Jill took off at a run. She vaulted clear over one of the broken trees and disappeared into the inky dark of the forest.

 

Allen hurried to catch up. He wasn’t just getting tired of fighting, he was  _ done  _ with fighting. A branch smacked him across the cheek as he ran. Izz was somewhere nearby, he could hear the whir of his feet across the uneven ground. The whole place smelt like ozone. Like rain after a fire. By the time he caught up with Jill she was hiding behind a huge, felled tree and trembling with nervous energy.

 

“Stop running away!” He whispered, crouching down next to her. There was a huge grin on her face.

 

“I saw a kitty. I’m gonna hug him.”

 

“Absolutely do not.” Allen groaned. He peered over the tree slowly, hoping that whatever cat Jill had seen wasn’t a competitor. Maybe it was someone’s escaped house cat. That would be nice.

 

The surrounding area had been practically cleared out. The trees were leveled, thrown to the sides like sticks, and the ground was scorched in places. In the center of it all was a girl with bright red hair. She seemed to be collapsed on the floor and Allen nearly threw himself over the log to get to her but Jill’s hand wound tightly in the back of his shirt. In the blink of an eye, a bright portal opened against the back of the clearing. It was the same as the portals they used to travel between zones.

 

“Judges.” He muttered.

 

A huge mechanical creature stepped through, it’s steel joints whirring and clunking. On it’s head lounged someone dressed all in purple with wicked looking claws jutting from the sleeves of their outfit.

 

“Look! The kitty!”

 

Allen followed Jill’s pointing finger, and sure enough there was a creature more cat than human slipping through the glowing portal.

 

Izz slid up behind them. “We should follow. Jill will probably do it without us, anyway.”

 

—-

 

Cas’ heart was pounding in his chest so hard he was pretty sure it would leave an indentation against his ribs. Ko-Reko and the Automaton hadn’t noticed him slip through their portal and now he was standing in a long corridor, blank grey stone walls stretching out before him. Below his feet was a raised dais with strange inscriptions covering it. He took a second to gather his bearings before continuing down the long hallway. His eyes watched. Waiting.

 

Behind him, the portal shimmered again. Unceremoniously, a group of odd looking people practically fell over themselves to get through it. Cas span wildly, looking for somewhere to hide, but the girl with long pink hair spotted him.

 

“Jill, no!” Someone in the tangle of limbs shouted, but she was off.

 

She moved far faster than Cas had been prepared for and her entire body plowed into his side, throwing the both of them to the ground. He snarled, ears pressed back to his head and claws raised-

 

When he realized she was just hugging him.

 

She was practically rubbing her face against the fluff on his neck.

 

The others had extracted themselves and it turned out to be another robot, a boy, and an odd looking inky creature. Cas looked up at them balefully.

 

“If you would, please, perhaps remove your friend from my person?”

 

The boy rolled his eyes and pried Cas’ assailant away from him. She whined, but seemed to be in exceptionally good spirits after getting her hands into something soft and fluffy.

 

“I’m Allen, and this is Jill.” The boy said.

 

“And I am IZ-44. But you can call me Izz!” The robot held one of it’s hands out and helped Cas to his feet. 

 

The little black creature leapt onto Jill’s shoulders again. It narrowed it’s eyes at Cas and said nothing. He shrugged. If it couldn’t- or wouldn’t- speak, that was it’s own prerogative.

 

“My name is Casimir, and we have to get out of here before those two follow you.”

 

He turned away from the group and continued to walk. Their confused stares followed him for a moment before they joined him. The quiet was oppressive, the only sounds were the quiet taps of their feet and the gentle mechanical noise of Izz’s plodding legs. The hall curved in one direction, then another, over and over until Cas was dizzy with it.

 

“Where are we even going?” Jill asked, her feet starting to drag against the floor.

 

“There hasn’t been any exits so far.”

 

There hadn’t been any sign of the judges either. That much Cas was thankful for at least. Again and again the corridor twisted. Their feet ached, numb from the thudding, plodding, constant. Cas’ ears pressed flat again. As he turned another corner, though, Casimir caught sight of the drifting, purple and pink scarves a certain judge wore. They flicked to the side, disappearing around another corner-

 

“There!” Cas broke into a run. “Something’s hiding the exits from us, this way!”

 

He followed Kyuu’s directions, the rest of the group trying to keep up with his hurried footsteps. They were starting to fall behind but Casimir continued doggedly. The blank white walls seemed to fall away around him, an array of colours spreading and fading with each step. In between the golden yellows and pale greens it seemed like something was watching, copying him, running alongside him like a shadow. Cas’ steps slowed down and he peered harder at the wall. Behind him, the others had stopped running as well. There was a thousand different versions of himself- of them, of all of them- running down these corridors.

 

Beside him ran another copy of himself, alone, and another ran in front with Juna and Gordon. Besides him were other, different coloured, versions of himself, fading into the distance surrounded by people and creatures he never could have imagined in a million years until it looped around and around coming back to this one point in time-

 

“Snap out of it!”

 

Izz stepped hard on someone’s toes, their loud yelp breaking Cas out of his odd daydream. He blinked hard, clearing his eyes- all of them- of the multitudinous visions of himself. Kyuu was standing in front of the group, leaning gently on the air as if he had no cares in the world. Izz had moved in front of the group as if to protect them from the judge.

 

“Stay away from us!” He warned, while Kyuu just looked on.

 

“What just happened?” Jill seemed to wonder out loud. She looked pale and dizzy and had to shake herself vigorously.

 

“Oh, just one of the good doctor’s little tricks and traps that are about the place. You should really watch out for those.” Kyuu just laughed. “Casimir, cutie, are you cavorting with a competitor again? I thought we’d gotten you past all that.”

 

Cas glanced at the group around him, he couldn’t see any stars on anything obvious and that seemed to be how they operated… Unless it was the robot in front of him. His hands flexed, claws sliding from their sheaths slowly. If he hadn’t realized, there was a good chance they hadn’t noticed yet either.

 

“No fighting, no more!” The tiny black creature shouted, leaping from Jill’s shoulders and putting itself between Casimir and the robot.

 

“It’s not like we have a choice.” Casimir growled and looked to Kyuu for confirmation.

 

The kitsune, however, seemed pensive and curious. His head tilted back and forth for a moment and for a split second his eyes glowed with the power of a thousand suns. A shiver of fear ran down Casimir’s back. It made his fur stand on end.

 

“Well,” Kyuu finally said with a hum, “you may stand a chance yet. I guess we’ll see. Don’t get distracted, now~”

 

And with that, he vanished with a curl of his many tails. Everyone could feel the tension bleed from the party gathered and Jill leant against Allen in relief. She wiped her hand across her brow dramatically.

 

“You have all met him before?”

 

They all nodded or agreed in various ways. Allen explained their fight against Kyuu and what had happened earlier while they continued to walk. While they spoke, they came out into a large room with three other arched doorways that led off deeper into the compound. The group stared in wonder while they tried to decide which direction they should go in. The doors and halls held no answers.

 

“Should we split up?” Izz wandered between them while he peered down the arches.

 

“It might be dangerous, we don’t have enough people to split up evenly so someone would have to go on their own.” 

 

Allen seemed to be one of the voices of reason in the group. Casimir stayed quiet, waiting for them to decide what they should do. He was perfectly happy going on his own.

 

“Jill and I will take this one, we work best together.” He’d continued, gesturing to one of the doorways. “Phoenix, do you want to go with Izz?”

 

The little creature looked up at the robot, then over at Casimir, who was leaning against a wall trying to look as neutral as possible, and then shook his head. “I am small, and slippery. They won’t find me! I will go alone.”

 

‘If you’re sure…”

 

They seemed concerned, worried about leaving Izz alone with Casimir, though the robot reassured them that he didn’t think the lion was all that dangerous. Casimir had to suppress a roll of his eyes but internally thought that maybe working in a group would be a good idea for this part of his mission. The plan was that, no matter what they found, interesting or not, that they’d all return to the center in an hour and decide where to go from there. He wondered if the Phoenix creature had a sense of time or not.

 

Casimir and the robot took the center pathway, eventually coming to a large flight of stairs that lead upwards. It was quiet, other than the hum of machinery from both Izz and the building surrounding them.

 

“Do you think she’s powering something?” He thought aloud, one hand resting on the gently humming walls.

 

“I am wondering the same thing. Perhaps her ultimate goal is buried somewhere inside this place.”

 

Cas mumbled his agreement. Eventually the stairs ended and they found themselves in a room surrounded on all sides by computer screens. They blurred with static, zipping between scenes almost as fast as Casimir could look between them. Izz trundled slowly over to them, focusing on a particular set of screens.

 

“There.” He said, quietly. “That’s me. In the past.” One of his metal fingers touched the screen gently. It seemed to be a cycle of the same day again and again- or perhaps his life had been as repetitive and dull as to seem like the same day over and over.

 

Glancing around, Cas could see Juna and Gordon, and Mason and Nevara, and others that he’d never met before settling on a screen showing himself. Everything was burning around him and he could still feel the tears leaving hot tracks down the fur on his face. Cas grit his teeth. Another screen showed him, right now, creating an odd loop of screens showing screens showing screens and he found himself quite dizzy looking at it for too long. The Izz and Casimir showed on the screen had a long, red thread connecting them and, when he looked back to the robot, he could see the faint outline of the thread around his wrist. There were others as well, snapped or torn or simply fading away into nothing. But, when he lifted his wrist to get a better look, the threads faded from his view.

 

“How strange…” he muttered.

 

Suddenly there was a clatter on the stairs and both Cas and Izz span around, ready for anything to come up them.

 

It was Jill and Allen, though there was a wild look to their eyes. They hadn’t been gone that long, Casimir wondered as they came crashing up the stairs together. Something must have happened.

 

“I don’t think I’m very good at sneaking!” Jill shouted, a mad laughter in her voice. Following behind her was the Automaton and the purple robed creature known as Ko-Reko.

 

“Looks like we found the rest of the rats!” He said loudly, banging on the roof of the robot beneath him. “I’m gonna have some fun with this.”

 

Instead of leaping from the robot his form shivered and disappeared, only to reappear next to Jill and Allen wit a vicious swing of his claws. They threw themselves backwards at the same time that Izz lashed out. The claws connected with Izz’ long forklift extension, the sharp clang echoing through the room even over the static of the tv screens, but to everyone’s surprise they didn’t cut through. Izz went on the offensive, Allen following close by with a strange blue weapon that shifted in his grip. And Casimir slipped away.

 

It hadn’t quite been what Kyuu suggested, but he was so close to Ametsuchi he could smell her in the air. She smelt like  _ nothing.  _ Like a blank space in the air, the cut-out form of someone that might have existed once.The huge chamber unfolded before him, a giant whirring machine against the back wall, lined with huge tubes filled with a glowing blue liquid, a bubble encased an endlessly silently screaming man, and standing against the back wall was none other than the purple haired angel herself.

 

Ko smashed into the wall with the force of a train, the white walls crumbling under body. Shards of it fell around him as he pushed himself from it, Allen leaping after him wielding a long sword that had once been a wrench, and Ko snarled from behind his mask. The sword blocked one hand and Izz’s long forklift extension blocked the other. He was trapped between the two opponents.

 

On top of all of that, Jill seemed to come from nowhere. Her fist barely skimmed the edge of his mask. A thin crack split through the center of the monochrome mask and Ko screeched with rage. In a second he had disappeared and whirled at their backs with his claws glimmering in the bright light. Suddenly, a black blur smacked against the back of his head. It’s tiny pitch claws scrabbled for purchase on his cowl and he flailed, long sleeved arms desperately trying to slap Phoenix away.

 

“Get off of me!” He snarled, shaking his head back and forth. The long, jester cap-and-bells flapping comically. He vanished again and again, blinking in and out of reality with Phoenix hanging on for dear life.

 

Finally, the tiny creature was flung off of his back and Jill leapt. Phoenix splatted in her arms, quickly reforming to it’s little four legged state. Ko-Reko had frozen, one clawed hand held over his face.

 

“I don’t have to put up with this…” He said, and with a blink he was gone.

 

In the corner of the room, Automaton remained motionless. Slowly the tension bled out of the others. Allen and Jill looked at each other warily.

 

“Was that it?” She asked.

 

Izz blinked in confusion. “Perhaps…he did not want to fight?”

 

“Didn’t seem like it to me.” 

 

Slowly, in case the strange judge came back, the group moved onwards.

 

“Where did that lion guy go, anyway?” Allen wondered out loud. His face went pale as someone cried out from deep inside the next room.

 

Ametsuchi’s hand was tight around Casimir’s throat. His transformation faded like ash on the wind, disappearing from his body even as her fingers tightened. Surrounding them were the various contestants, seemingly unconscious inside the glowing chambers. Red threads trailed from their bodies. Jill’s hands covered her mouth in shock as she saw even Nevara floating listlessly next to her ever-present companion.

 

“My servants fail me, fleeing in the face of adversity, and leaving competitors to sneak into my private quarters!” She flung him hard and Casimir collapsed next to the weak and sparking form of Kyuu. “On top of all that, you inspire rebellion in them!”

 

Kyuu wheezed. “Oh good, looks like backup arrived just in time.” His tails flickered like static.

 

Forcing himself to his feet, Casimir wobbled unsteadily and pressed his back against the wall. “We won’t be playing your games any more, Ametsuchi.”

 

“Tch.” She turned her back on them, wings quivering, and began to flick the switches on her giant machine. “I don’t need you two to finish powering this. I’ll just have to do without you.”

 

Hurrying to Casimir’s side, Izz propped him up on one shoulder while he heaved a breath. “What is she planning?” His tinny voice was full of fear.

 

“She brought you all here to steal your ‘potential fate’,” Kyuu explained from the floor. He cast his gaze to a tube where another fox-like man, only dressed in black and purple and blue rather than Kyuu’s extravagance, and sighed. “Every timeline leads to this moment. We’ve done this before in so many iterations of ourselves and every one has lead to ruin. If she brings herself to full power, she’ll rule every part of time and space itself. Fate will be her plaything.”

 

Allen’s hand, wrapped around his wrench, trembled. Jill had a frown creasing between her eyebrows. Even the Phoenix, who had seemed so desperate to get to the doctor, said nothing.

 

“What can I do?” Izz set his shoulders and nodded to Casimir. If they had to fight, even if he disliked it to the core of his being, he would do it.

 

The red threads on the trapped competitors were beginning to disappear. Kyuu wracked his brain desperately. “I think we need...a fate singularity. Yours and Casimir’s stars contain the fate of everyone you defeated, and everyone they defeated and so on and so forth.”

 

Ametsuchi’s shoulders shook with mirth. “That won’t work.” She said, flicking a lever with her slender fingers. “You’re missing a few links in the chain.”

 

Suddenly Kyuu cursed under his breath. “Six, right?”

 

She nodded. The machine was beginning to hum and whirr even louder than before. It’s great mechanical parts dragged up and down, huge gears turning with a groan. Casimir shuddered. He could feel a metaphorical weight pressing down on his shoulders. His people, these people. The few friends he made.

 

Suddenly, Izz was reaching out one of his little mechanical hands. He held it out to Casimir, who was still leaning heavily on his shoulder, with a steely glint to his eyes. “You should take the star. I’m not that good of a fighter.”

 

“Neither am I!” Casimir whined. He was just beaten into the ground by Ametsuchi, and not even Kyuu could keep up with her either, and he wasn’t keen on repeating the event. “I’m not someone you can rely on. Can’t we give them to someone else?”

 

Kyuu shook his head, then pushed himself up against the wall he had been slumped against. “Look I’d take them both if I could but you’re the last two competitors, someone has to win this.”

 

He took Izz’s hand. He felt the heady rush of power flow from the last star into himself. The magic seemed to tremble, thrumming under his veins and pulsing with each grind of the machine’s gears. Jill and Allen and the Phoenix looked on warily, as if they expected him to betray them at any moment. Even Ametsuchi had turned her head to watch the proceedings though she seemed nonplussed.

 

“And one final touch, I think.”

 

There was a wicked grin on Kyuu’s face. He stuck his tongue out, almost playfully, but he held a tiny vial on the tip that was filled to the brim with writhing red strings; the same as the ones coming from the other competitors. Ametsuchi’s smug face fell.

 

“How many times did you change the past?!” She snarled, bright white wings snapping out with a loud crack. Cas felt his own flare out to match her threat.

 

“Enough to say for certain this should be the last time~!”

 

He lurched forwards, hands gripping Casimir’s shoulders tightly, and shoved their mouths together in an odd kiss. The tiny vial was forced into Casimir’s and the glass shattered as he pulled away. Jill giggled, somewhere in the back of the room. There was a beat, where the dread that nothing would happen settled hard in all watching party’s stomachs, before Casimir began to  _ glow.  _ The bright blue light seemed to illuminate him from the inside, and the closed eyes on his wings and back carefully peeled open. Allen stepped back. Even he could feel the way the gravity in the room seemed to increase, seconds before the light exploded outwards.

 

Ametsuchi covered her eyes with an arm, and the others flinched away with a cry. When the light faded to a more tolerable level, Casimir looked down at himself and the electricity that coursed through his gauntlets, the fire that blazed where his feet touched, the orbs of water that floated nearby, and smiled. His outfit had become pure white, the sheer amount of destiny on his shoulders from both every version of himself and the other competitors felt like hope. Ametsuchi growled.

 

“You won’t stop me with pretty parlour tricks.”

 

Again she launched herself at him, long lab coat billowing out behind her. Unlike before, though, it didn’t appear as if she was moving faster than Casimir could see. The wind whipped around his ankles angrily as he blocked and dodged her vicious attacks. A punch that could shatter ribs. A kick that would leave a dent in his skull. He swung at her in turn, fire following his movements, and the blaze spread out around him in a huge circle. Ametsuchi’s huge wings beat powerfully and she leapt backwards and away from him. The wind whipped harder, the fire spreading out more every second.

 

“Everyone! Move back!”

 

Distantly, Cas could hear Izz and the others moving away from their raging battle. It was taking all of his concentration to keep Ametsuchi at bay however. Her own magic warred with his in the air, a swirling light show of power battling back and forth over their heads. Lightning struck fire, wind buffeted at ice shards, the shadows danced around their feet and grabbed for them with tendrils of darkness. Ice pooled at her feet that he didn’t create and he knew that Nevara was watching somewhere.

 

Casimir pressed his ears back and roared with all of his might. No matter what, he couldn’t show Ametsuchi that she was actually hurting him. Even with his strength, the new power given to him with his transformation, she was a dangerous opponent. He forced himself to move faster, to hit harder, until with one lucky blow Ametsuchi was flung backwards and hit the giant machine with a sickening crack.

 

“I’m going to strip you of your wings, doctor.” He said, voice low in his throat. 

 

The fire around him was snuffed out in a blink. Casimir’s gloved hands gripped the base of her wings. She raged and thrashed, trying to pull herself from his grip, but he held fast. Her wings began to fall away under him. As the white feathers drifted, they disappeared before they could even touch the floor. Soon she was left with just the fluffy down and soon after that, nothing at all. Casimir’s eyes glowed the brightest blue yet. The star on his cheek seemed to be absorbed into his fur, tiny sparks of magic dancing away down his neck and face. He could still feel the pain from where Ametsuchi’s blows had struck him, but it was distant and dulled- as if it had happened to someone else.

 

“Casimir?” Izz asked, nervously peeking from behind one of the huge tubes.

 

“She’s been fighting for so long.” Casimir spoke with a thousand voices. It echoed throughout the now silent chamber. The others shivered with it. “I’ll put you back.”

 

Ametsuchi turned fearful eyes upwards to Casimir as a blue portal opened underneath her feet with a wave of his hand. She sunk through it and disappeared. Slowly the last of the contestants, Kyuu as well, stepped out from their hiding places and shuffled over to the strangely glowing lion. As Ametsuchi disappeared, the floating bubble containing the strangely warped man popped and a second portal opened underneath him. He was unconscious as he sank through it, but no longer screamed with unseeing eyes.

 

“Would you help me let the others out?” He asked, staring off into the middle distance away from them. It was hard to tell if he was unseeing or all-seeing.

 

Allen got to work first, snapping out of the fascinated stupor, and began plugging away at the controls to the machine. He growled and grumbled under his breath. Quickly Izz joined him and together they made short work of the release program.

 

“What did you do with her?” Jill sidled up close to Casimir while she watched the others work.

 

“I put her back where she belongs. On her fate’s true path.”

 

“So she’s okay?”

 

He nodded. The fluid in the tubes around them had begun to drain as they spoke, leaving the other contestants and remaining judges slumped against the glass. Kyuu pulled the other fox from his confinement, arms wrapped tightly around him as if he could hardly believe he was real. He nodded to Casimir before the portal opened up underneath him and finally they disappeared.

 

Together they worked on freeing everyone, Allen pointedly not asking how Casimir was putting everyone back into their own timelines, but muttering under his breath the entire time anyway, until only a few were left. Nevara floated closely to Mason, a hand resting gently on his shoulder.

 

“Well done, on not dying.” She told Casimir with a small smirk before they vanished as well. Jill waved goodbye the whole time.

 

Juna and Gordon were still unconscious as he sent them back to their own time, their own world. It was sad to see them go without saying goodbye. Everything would probably feel like a strange dream to them, until the memories faded and grayed at the edges. As they opened the last tube, Beatrice’s eyes jerked open. She thrashed in Izz’s arms, heel slamming against his metal head, and forced herself from the container. As she stumbled through the door, she shook out her damp pink dress with a curse, and her eyes locked onto Casimir.

 

“You! You absolute mother-“

 

She fell through the portal with a yelp, and Casimir grinned. “Whoops.”

 

The others joined him, Izz rubbing where Beatrice had clocked him comically. “Hey, Casimir. We have a request.”

 

He turned his head towards them, expression blank. “What do you need?”

 

“We’re all going together!” Jill sprung through the air, Phoenix hanging on for dear life onto her shoulders, and crashed into Izz and Allen in a laughing pile of limbs. “You can do that, right?”

 

A small smile spread across his face, wrinkling his eyes in the corners, and he nodded. Other than himself, they were the last ones to go through. He could feel the magic coursing through his bones beginning to disappear with each portal. Maybe he’d finally get to sleep, after all of this. With one final wave of his hand, the whole group of friends began to sink into the bright blue.

 

“Bye! Don’t forget us!” Jill called, hanging tightly onto Allen with one arm and squished closely to Izz with the other.

 

He wasn’t sure where everyone he sent back would end up. The jester Ko was sure to leave after he got bored, as he’d never been bound to the place by fate. To Casimir the entire complex was covered in a multitude of red strings. They were translucent, but with enough focus he could tug them and move them between each other. He wondered if that was what Ametsuchi had been fighting to do the whole time. She’d been trapped in between destinies for longer than he cared to imagine, but now she had a second chance.

 

Perhaps it was time to give himself a second chance as well.

 

The last portal appeared under his feet, and, as he sank through it, he could feel the last of the god-like magic fade away.

 

A few days later, in the Selefim kingdom…

 

“Casimir! Stop hiding!” White feet hurried after him, the lion dodging through pillars of stone as Casimir laughed.

 

He’d been leading Adeyemi on a chase through the castle for what seemed like an hour. There was some sort of stuffy meeting going on that his father wanted him to be a part of, and Cas would deal with it… eventually. Any moment now the Nepherim- seven foot tall wolf-like creatures covered in jutting spines and horns- would ask for a trade agreement that would swiftly go bad. It was well known amongst his people that they dearly wanted magic of their own, but were unable to get it without Selefim help and, because of that, they’d been at war for centuries.

 

Breathing hard, he ducked behind another ivory pillar and dived under a thorny bush. His fur kept him safe from the stinging barbs as he crawled on his belly away from Adeyemi. His friend had noticed something different about him, a willingness to learn and join people, he’d called it, but it had been certainly welcomed.

 

As he slipped through the other side of his escape route, a large shadow fell across him. For a moment adrenaline shot through him, until he reminded himself that he wasn’t on the run or part of a tournament anymore. He looked up with a cheeky grin that was quickly wiped from his face.

 

“Well, if it isn’t our crown prince. Hiding from your minders?”

 

It was the Nepherim king. His long, shaggy hair fell in great waves around his face. The horns on his head created a circle, like a crown, and Cas could see his piercing blue eyes from behind the curtain of hair. He still wore the sword that he cut down Adeyemi with, a lifetime ago.

 

“I am!” Casimir said, pulling himself to his feet and steeling himself inside. “Come and hide with me, I’m sure it will be more interesting than being sequestered away.”

 

The man tilted his head to the side, one ear cocking. Casimir held his hand out as the eyes on his wrist swiveled to stare at him.

 

“We can talk about magic a bit, maybe.”

 

“I think I’d like that.”


End file.
